Dominus Flevit rest upon an ancient site, accessed with a steep pathway going uphill, towering above the Kidron valley towards the Mount of Olives or from the bottom near the Basilica of Agony and Mary’s tomb. A Roman Catholic church and an ancient place of God’s acre where rich findings of uncovered artifacts and tombs were traced back from the time of the Canaanite period and Byzantine eras.
A fabled place were Jesus pass by on his last, fateful journey 2,000 years ago and gazed upon a spectacle that is Jerusalem, which unfolded before his very eyes and brought tears to the fragile heart of this beholder. Jesus was overwhelmed by the beauty that was presented before him, but was gravely saddened knowingly aware of the future destructions that will devour the city, thus the name Dominus Flevit. Dominus Flevit, which translates from Latin as “The Lord Wept”, was envisaged in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ.
The site where Christ’s weeps over Jerusalem was pristine until the arrival of the Crusaders when they started to point out the significance of the site and the remembrance of this event. With the retraction of the Crusaders, the church fell into ruins. In 1518 a mosque was built on this site, presumably built by the Turks, but to the community they considered it a madrasah (school). The place was called el Mansouriyeh(the Triumphant) and also el Khelweh(hermitage).
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